Four Ford-friendly council candidates joined mayoral candidate Doug Ford at the Splendid China Tower Mall on Saturday.

Ward 39 candidate Patricia Sinclair, Ward 40 candidate Anthony Internicola, Ward 41 candidate John Kladitis and Ward 42 candidate Somu Mondal were all called up on the stage in the mall during Ford’s appearance.

Although Ward 39 is an open council seat, the other wards are all held by incumbent councillors – Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly is in Ward 40, Councillor Chin Lee is fighting for re-election in Ward 41 and Councillor Raymond Cho is running again in Ward 42.

Ford has talked about running Ford Nation-friendly councillors in the past when his brother, Mayor Rob Ford was running for mayor (story here).

On Saturday, Ford’s speech focused on his own election fight and he didn’t specifically endorse any of the candidates on stage.

After the council candidates appeared, Ford denied he’s running a slate or endorsing any council candidates.

“I appreciate their support,” Ford told the Toronto Sun. “I would have a conflict if I endorsed anyone … but I do appreciate their thoughts and likemindedness. I want to wish them all the best.”

Ford Fest came and went on Friday night (story here) but there is still an unanswered question around what it was exactly: Was it a campaign event, a councillor event or a family barbecue?

Mayor Rob Ford and Councillor Doug Ford have maintained it was a family barbecue for the community – a long-held tradition started by their father, Doug Ford Sr.

The city granted the permit to hold Ford Fest in Thomson Memorial Park on the belief it was an event similar to the more than 100 other events hosted by other members of council.

Rob Ford’s mayoral rivals maintain it was an election event – part of the mayor’s re-election campaign – and should not have been allowed in the park (city rules prohibit candidates from holding campaign events on city property).

Making things more complicated still, Mayor Ford put out a robocall inviting people to Ford Fest earlier this week and asking those receiving the call to indicate whether he can count on their “support.” (story here)

And then Doug Ford claimed the event will be an election “turning point” while still denying it was a campaign function (story here).

The city had bylaw officers at the event on Friday night and found the conditions of the permit were met (story here).

That would seem to close the book on Ford Fest.

But wait, there’s more.

As the fog of Ford Fest lifted on Saturday, Mayor Ford used his official Twitter account to direct people to fordfest.ca to see photos of the event.

Giorgio Mammoliti is giving a thumb’s up to running for another term on city council.

Mammoliti told the Sun he plans to register to run for re-election representing York West (Ward 7) on Thursday at 9:30 a.m.

“The cutting at City Hall isn’t finished and while nobody is really talking about it in the mayoral race – they all just seem to be talking about how to spend money – there is $100 million or so that we could probably save the first year in amalgamating our housing offices,” Mammoliti said Wednesday.

“I need to stop the LRT on Finch Avenue … and try to get Finch designated for a future subway line and bring on busing lanes in the meantime.”

The controversial councillor – and one-time NDP MPP – was one of Mayor Rob Ford’s council allies at the start of this term although he later jumped off the mayor’s executive committee (and eventually came back after a few months).

But will Mammoliti support anyone for mayor? He says he may end up backing Ford.

“At this point the only one talking about keeping the agenda going … seems to be Mayor Ford,” Mammoliti said. “Unless he does something outrageous and crazy it looks like my community (and) myself may be supporting him.”

Before making a formal endorsement, Mammoliti said he plans to have a meeting with his “advisors” ahead of Election Day.

“It will be about 200 people that will tell us, me, where Ward 7 will be throwing their support in in the mayoral race,” Mammoliti said. “We’ll probably be inviting all the mayoral candidates to prove to them that it is them that should be elected in Ward 7.”

The veteran councillor is still facing problems from his 2010 election campaign.

He’s facing five charges of violating the Municipal Elections Act. Those charges were brought by a special prosecutor appointed by the city’s compliance audit committee.

Mayoral candidate David Soknacki is proudly touting his lack of name recognition as a reason to vote for him.

Soknacki – who is a former budget chief and city councillor – is running to replace Mayor Rob Ford this year but, unlike the mayor, he hasn’t smoked crack cocaine so he’s not an international celebrity (NOTE: Mayor Ford denies he’s an international celebrity).

On Thursday, the Soknacki campaign released an ad on Twitter to mock his lack of global fame and draw attention at the same time to how the mayor’s antics have made him a frequent topic of late-night comics:

Hours later after the mayor lashed out at Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair (story here), the Soknacki campaign released this ad:

Pretty slick moves for a candidate at the back of the frontrunner pack.

Former Toronto Blue Jays slugger Jose Canseco is still talking about running for Mayor of Toronto – at least to This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

I’m told Canseco is on the CBC comedy show tonight (Feb. 19, 2013) at 8:30 p.m. talking about why his mayoralty run would be a “grand slam”.

Canseco made headlines in January when he openly talked about running to replace current Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. Although Canseco can’t run for mayor unless he moves to Toronto, he still takes swings at Ford – he calls him Rod rather than Rob – on his Twitter account from time to time.

In a promo clip of tonight’s 22 Minutes episode it looks like Canseco will take a couple more whacks at Ford. No really, he’s going to hit a baseball with Ford’s picture on it (see photo below). Be curious to hear what Ford thinks of that.

Should be worth watching just to see whether this sketch is a comedic home run or it strikes out.

Does the thought of Councillor Shelley Carroll running for mayor worry the Fords?

Carroll has said she’s still mulling a run for mayor. She came out Tuesday criticizing Mayor Rob Ford for “not doing his job” (story here).

Councillor Doug Ford said Wednesday he’s not worried about Carroll as a possible political foe to Mayor Ford in the 2014 election. But Councillor Ford quickly added he’ll never underestimate anyone’s odds at the ballot box.

“I never underestimate anyone and as far as I’m concerned anyone and everyone are going to beat us so we’re going to work hard,” Ford told reporters. “Because the biggest mistake that all the councillors did was underestimate Rob last time and we’ll never underestimate anyone.

Don Peat

Don Peat is the City Hall bureau chief for the Toronto Sun. He covers municipal affairs at Toronto City Hall, a beat that has him writing about everything from garbage to transit to taxes to multimillion-dollar spending scandals.